Center-draft grate attachment



(No Model.)

E. O. 'BART1101101111117l CENTER DRAFT' GRATE ATTACHMENT.

No. 453,101. Patented May 26, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PA'rENr OEEIGE.

ERMON O. BARTIIOLOMEW, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

CENTER-DRAFT GRATE. ATTACHMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 453,101, dated May 26, 1891.

i Application led November 3, 1890. Serial No. 370,096. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EEMoN O. BARTHoLo- MEW, of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Center-Draft Grate Attachments, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to devices for the direction of a center draft from the re through the throat-entrance to the chimney for preventing the escape of smoke into the room and for the economie restraint of the escape and loss of heat up the chimney; and the invention consists in features of novelty hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Figure I is a front elevation of a grate with my center-draft hood attached. Fig. II is a vertical section taken on line II II, Fig. I, and shows the location and means of attachment of the center-draft guide and smoke-arrester hood. Fig. III is an enlarged perspective detached view of the hood; and Fig. IV is a detail vertical section taken on line IV IV, Fig. II, and shows the curved spring-tension of the angle-flange of the hood to the jamb, into which it is also slightly recessed.

Referring to the drawings, l represents the fire-place; 2, the jambs of said iire-place 3, the back wall; 4, the coping; 5, the throat; 6, the chimney; 7, the grate; 8, the ash-pit, and 9 the inclosing or mantel frame.

l0 represents the center-draft guide and smoke-arrester hood, Il the inwardly-directed angle-flange of said hood, and l2 the projecting angle-points of said iianges.

13 represents the projecting pendent edges of the surmountin g mantebframe, against the inside edge of which the upper edge of the hood l0 is seated or rests; la, the lugs that project laterally from the vertical sections of said 1nantel-frame or from the jambs of the iireplace, against the front of which projecting lugs the end edges of said hood rests; and 15, the recesses in the jambs, into which the proj ecting curved angle-points 12 of the flanges of the hood are sprung and maintain their spring hold. The center-draft guide and smolre-arrester hood is preferably made of sheet-iron, but maybe made of any otherV suitable material. Now it is well known that there are objections that housekeepers frequently and truthfully urge against the use of open grates or fireplaces, although they are the most healthy means of heating the apartments of a house, for no house is or can be as well ventilated without the air of the aerated draft from open fire-places. First, a large proportion of the heatascendsthechinrneyand becomes the waste product of combustion; second, large volumes of smoke, especially in certain conditions of the weather and directions of the wind and especially during theignition of the iire, sometimes emerge into the room instead of ascending the chimney; third, from the lack of a centralized and steady draft gases frequently escape into the room; fourth, with the usual open throat at the entrance to the chimney, when downward atmospheric currents prevail, the Wind as it drives down the chimney has free play to puff out the smoke, soot, and ash into the room and, iifth, the lack of a steady center draft causes the unequal combustion of the fuel in the grate.

I will now more specifically describe the construction of the most important element of my invention-namely, the center-draft guide and smoke-arrester hood l0, and its mode of attachmentand functions, and describe the means by which the above-described objectionable features of the open grate, as usually constructed, may beobviated. The said hood 10 may be made out of sheet-iron or any other suitable incombustible material, and is bent at the angle line 16 and inclined upward, so as to provide an angle-flange 1l, that will receive that portion of the ascending smoke and draft that carries it that has a tendency to escape into the room and controlor centralize its movement to the throat proper at the entrance to the chimney. It will be seen that the said angle-flange ll is cut or formed flaring toward the points l2, the advantages of which will be described with its means of attachment. The upper edge of said hood is seated against the inside of usually pendent projection 13 of the horizontal section of the mantel-frame, and near its angle turn 1G above the same the hood passes outside the lateral lugs la, that project from `:the vertical side IOO pieces of the mantel-frame or jambs and the projecting angle points 12 are sprung in a curved direction downward, so as to enter readily into the slight recesses 15 in the j ambs of the fire-place, and thus hold and springbrace the said center-draft and smoke-arrester hood in its operative position. I do not confine myself to any exact depth of said hood 10, or width or inclination of said angleange 11, for it isevident that it may be advantageously varied in accordance with the height of the chimney and the resultant rapidity of draft up the same without any departure from the essential features of the invention. Thus when the chimney is short and the draft consequently sluggish the hood may be made deeper, so as to still further reenforce the current and the angle-flange be bent more acutely; also, both said features of the hood may be varied to suit the fuel consumed in the grate, Whether' it be bituminous soft coal, hard coal, or wood.

Following up in order, as stated above, the five objections truthfully made against the use of open grates as they are usually coustructed, I will now describe hou7 my centerdraft guide and smoke-arrester hood overcomes said difficulties, so as to afford the unobjectionable use of open fire-places or grates, which are the most healthy means of at the same time both heating and Ventilating the apartments of houses. First, as the hood comes down beneath the throat at the entrance to the chimney and the angle-lian ge is inclined upward from its lower point 16 with an approximation of its upper edge with the projected point of the coping at the throat-entrance to the chimney, it is evident that but comparatively little waste products of combustion can ascend through the thus centralized throat; second, as the hood incloses the upper portion of the front opening of the fireplace, and especially as it thus retains the forwardly-guided current induced by the forward inclination of the customary coping 4: and turns and guides it up the chimney, it is thus prevented from puffing the smoke and soot out into the room; third, a centralized steady draft is continuously maintained by stopping its exhaust by closing they opening in the front of the fire-place above the throatlevel and for a certain distance below the same and in the provision of an inclined upwardly-projected flange that guides the current into said throat; fourth, when downward atmospheric currents prevail, they cannot, When this device is used, have free play to puff out smoke, soot, and ash into the room, for the hood is a buffer-stay against said adverse action of the wind, andthe reduced centralized entrance to the throat is not so expansive; but it is readily guarded and occupied by the ascending rareiied air from the ire in the grate, so that although downward currents may prevail in the atmosphere they meet with an effectual buffer-stay both with said hood, its angle-flange, and the rapid centralized current through the reduced entrance to the throat; fifth, by the use of said hood and its angleguide iiange a steady center draft from the fire to the throat-entrance to chimney is maintained, so as to cause amore equal combustion of the fuel in the grate; also, as the draft is both more regular and more rapid, there is a much more perfect combustion of the fuel, and as said draft provides a far more abundant supply of oxygen the carbon that would otherwise be carried off as waste products of combustion in the form of smoke is consumed, and thus provides a large amount of additional heat with a more cheerful lire, so that there is also less smoke to find vent for in the chimney, and it is utilized instead of being sent forth to pollute the atmosphere.

yI claim as my invention- 1. In combination with a fire-grate, the approximately vertical hood 10, the upwardlyinclined angle-flange 11, and the curved projecting attachment-points 12 on. said angleflange, the said hood, an gle-flange, and curved points being arranged to be secured in the front upper open portion of the fire-place to improve the draft, arrest the smoke, and economize the heat, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with a lire-grate, the hood 10, the upwardly-inclined angle-flange 11, the curved attachment-corners 12 of said flange, the pendent ledge 13 from the horizontal section of the mantel-frame, and the lugs 14, the jambs of the lire-place being provided with recesses 15, the said hood, augle-fiange,and the curved points of said angle-flange being secured bya spring-lock seat against said pendent ledge andlugs and in said recesses in the jarnbs, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In presence of- A. M. EBERsoLE, BENJN. A. KNIGHT.

IOC 

